Here's an interesting observation. I was doing low carb and noticed my back pain and knee pain went away. I also felt more alert and focused. Fell off the wagon for a couple of weeks and the girdle back pain returned, plus pulsating pain in my back andmy knee pain returned quickly. I did notice this before but now I'm sure that low carb diet helps with inflammation. I will be returning to it this week.
Comfort in food: Here's an interesting observation... - PMRGCAuk
Comfort in food
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Singr
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Or you may be intolerant to one of your favoured carb foods. The most likely one according to my stats (food intolerance is my speciality) is yeast (in bread)
Absolutely , alot of people don't realise that it is a yeast or fungi intolerance they have rather than gluten intolerance .
They reduction in gluten helps too , but sometimes the gastric problems are from the yeast adding to the flora imbalance .
People just don't realise because they remove all gluten first and then the first thing they eat again is bread ( because it's lovely and we all crave it).
It seems wise to try a little non yeast product first like pasta and then compare it.
Although if you want to test wether you are having issues with just yeast/ fungi , just gluten , or both , you do need to stop all yeasts and fungi like Marmite , mushrooms , coffee, peanuts and rice. ( as they have hidden molds) and check there isn't any yeast in the flavourings of things like stock cubes , crisps etc.
I did elimination but found that I can eat occasional gluten but have yeast very rarely . If I am having a flare or any infection and gastric issues I give them up completely and it does reduce the time I have an issue and it's severity.
Thanks for the reminder xx
This post is very informative for me. Thank you !
I did good intolerance test and I react to wheat, pasta, spelt, gluten etc so all man made products such as this. Been told to eliminate all and reintroduce after 6 weeks one at a time.
Hi, I do low carb too and although it has put my type 2 into remission I haven’t really noticed that it helps my inflammation. But then it could be worse if I gave up the low carbs and ate as I did before. I don’t wish to try
I have been low carbing for over 2 years now. No decrease in pain/inflammation that I have noticed. Saggy skin, a lower BMI and hba1c but not much else that I can see.
PMRproAmbassador
Yup - sugar is definitely pro-inflammatory. And that includes all simple carbs!
I was travelling in the UK for 3 weeks which means far less control over what I get to eat. FAR more carbs than I am used to and I noticed. Then I got home to low temps and rain/snow. Jeepers!!!!!!
• in reply toPMRpro
It must be a big difference for you from 20gs to eating what muggles eat. I am 40to60g so probably would notice if I dropped more but not sure I would manage it psychologically.
I doubt I was at 20g before we went away - but I sure as he££ wasn't in the UK!
• in reply toPMRpro
😂😂😂
And how about when u were in the US?
That wasn't long before the UK trip so why I wasn't IRO 20g! But actually it wasn't too bad - wasn't typical US food in Albuquerque. No breakfast, meat/fish and salads at lunch and dinner from a buffet.
But there was this utterly fabulous flourless chocolate cake one night for dessert 
I am type 2 and have been low carbing for years (no meds!!!) but developed PR (not PMR but similar) during this time of low carbing - I think I am prone to auto-immune things!!! -(
I'd like to know if there's been an increase in incidence of autoimmune diseases in the last couple of decades as food production got so industrialized.
• in reply toHeronNS
There's certainly evidence of the impact of insecticides, and I have seen material on farmers suffering from autoimmune conditions. However it's whereabouts have eluded me for the moment. Time for food .🤭
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
scats• in reply to
I remember, a while back, speculating with DL that all the chemicals that were liberally sprayed around the countryside in the 1950s were responsible for my families PMR. There are 4 of us now over 2 generations. Thats the genetic and environmental elements accounted for.
• in reply toscats
I am from the 60s but in the late 60s to mid 70s my mum worked on an arable farm and we always went there during the holidays and after school. I did all sorts of jobs, including cleaning a commercial greenhouse that had been bought dismantled. I don't know what the chemicals were but I spent several weeks using them to clean all the molds and mosses and all the insect life off the greenhouse. I find it scary thinking about it! My mum has similar pains to PMR, my elder sister has an autoimmune condition too.
scats• in reply to
Very scary!
Food production was prioritised post war, I can remember smelling and tasting the chemicals as the farmers around us, including my Dad, were spraying. Most now have been banned but even now I can sometimes smell/taste that someone is spraying.
So does this mean that the rise in autoimmune diseases can be put at Hitler's door too? The repercussions of the war are endless!
• in reply toscats
The chemicals used to.clean the greenhouses (3or4 50ft by 12ft or so) made us cough, our eyes sting and gave us splash burns. It would be interesting to know what the young lad is like now.
• in reply toHeronNS
I saw some interesting studies linking higher salt intake in todays fast food diets with Multiple Sclerosis
It has had an impact in studies on diseases that are connected to allergy and intolerance issues .
They are seeing a correlation in increase in patients presenting with the rare disorders , especially issues like MCAS ( Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) and Mitochondrial Diseases and Immunity Syndromes.
I am eventually going to be tested for MCAS ( in about three centuries when I finally get to see the right Rheumy to send me for the Typing of Ehlers Danlos 😋😂😂😂) as my intolerance to certain drugs has been proved with my blood tests so far , and my allergy responses had deteriorated even before steroids.
Reading literature on these intolerance issues , they do assume ( although are still trying to get funding to continue more research ) that the increase in toxins entering the body is having an impact on our immunity systems and the extra response needed , at a cellular level , to cope with the burden of minor , unnoticeable allergen responses is building up our hypersensitivity .
This in turn , in their theory , is increasing the amount of autoimmune responses and allergy
conditions that people are suffering .
A lot of the new research into these issues is being targeted at the Autoimmune , Autoinflammatory and Connective Tissue Disorders that are originally genetic in origin , but the same pathway is eventually recognised in Chronic Disorders that come from other causes eventually..... It just takes so long.
Most of the people on the forum will have forgotten they had PMR/ GCA long before any conclusions are made and reach actual front line medicine.
Although , some of us with chronic genetic conditions like Ehlers Danlos , Cystic Fibrosis , CVID etc. and with issues like Fibromyalgia , Eczema , Asthma and Arthritis may make our lives easier by avoiding as many toxins and industrially produced food and beauty products as we can to help reduce our symptoms , pain , and the amount of infections and rashes we contract.
We do what we can but apparently we are all swimming in a soup of toxins now. We all, for example, have glyphosate in our bodies even if we eat nothing but organically grown food. We all have plastic in us. 😞 And many of us are old enough to have been children when atomic testing was rampant and pesticides were being developed from nerve gas. I read a long time ago that our generation might break the trend of centuries and not live longer than our parents. How many genetic disorders are actually the result of mutations caused by our or our parents' way of life?
I know it's a minefield , but at least if we know , every little change must be helping a bit we can feel a bit better about it, that's how I try to think of it otherwise the whole picture can get too demoralising.
I don't know about the effects of testing toxic gases and atomic bombs on our parents , but I'm pretty sure that some of the noxious fumes that come off my husband and children , especially after a curry , must be held partly responsible for any mutations I'm experiencing these days.😋😂😂😂
I am seriously considering walking around my house in a gas mask and welding gloves , like those children in Dr. Who , for the good of my health ( and not just because it was a character that used to terrify my eldest daughter and I think she deserves a little payback occasionally , Karma will out!!😋😂😂😂😘)
Hugs xx
I'm in the generation which grew up in the 50s and 60s. We were drinking radioactive strontium in our milk, breathing chemicals used on our own gardens, told not to feed white bread to the dog because it would give it fits. ... pretty amazing any of us are still alive!
I think, perhaps, I am fortunate to have been born of an earlier generation and place, Australia. I am 91 and my mother shopped every couple of days for fresh food, which she cooked. My Father always had a small vegetable garden, my Mum did the flowers. I never tasted anything out of a can until I was nineteen years old. I just continued to eat the way I did in my early years, good organic food, Admittedly, I now have PMR but until my ninetieth birthday was very healthy. I continue my eating habits, just completely cut out sugar, except in some fruit, such as blueberies
I am just old enough to remember the arrival of supermarkets and the pre-packaging of fruits and vegetables. I remember how the adults were so taken aback by suddenly having to buy a whole bag of potatoes or apples, for instance, rather than selecting their own in the size and quantity they wanted.
Which I can still do here in Italian supermarkets. There is some pre-packed stuff that is sometimes cheaper but most of the veggies and fruit are available loose. Strangely, organic stuff is more likely to be packed!
Ooooer!
Weird, isn't it? In the supermarket (I buy my eggs at the market though) the organic eggs are in a plastic tray, while all the others are in recyclable or reusable cardboard.
Mostly paper stuff here - and the baker takes them happily because they have a tray of loose eggs at a per egg price!
That's true here too , and it does seem odd , that the organic stuff comes in reams of plastic packaging.
I go to the market ( or send the family with a list ) for fruit and veg , and luckily have a good butcher in the next village .
We also have a mill up the road ( the only working one in Wales ) so can get fresh milled organic flour for most of the year , I have to stock up in October until February but that flour is probably fresher than the stuff at the supermarket any way.
I sometimes wonder if the anti caking agent they put in industrial flour is also an irritant to some people rather than always the gluten .
The fish counter is the main place to meet plastic now, wrapped in paper and a plastic bag - our butcher has switched to paper and paper bags - and I imagine if you took your own reuseable tubs they's put it in them. Baker's read is also sold loose by weight in bags except toast bread, in cellophane stuff.
I read an piece in The Link about three weeks ago. The theory reported was that through evolution our main threat was bacteria which our bodies had learnt to deal with very effectively through an immune response. Now we are threatened with toxins and allergins and our bodies are dealing with them in the same way.
So it is not our bodies attacking us but using the only devise it has so far developed to deal with the new threat!!
That makes a lot of sense. What has never made sense to me is acceptiong that illness, other than that caused by pathogens, injury or the rare genetic deformity, is a normal part of our existence. As animals on this planet we must have evolved to live without dangerous reactions to the world or we would not still be here. So we have fouled our own (and everyone else's) nest. Not very clever of an animal which thinks it is the most intelligent creature in the universe!
What is interesting though is what they are finding at the new mummy research facility in Bozen/Bolzano here. There is also one in Milan I think.
eurac.edu/en/research/healt...
Otzi had cardiovascular problems (atherosclerosis), Lyme disease, joint pain and bad teeth. With a genetic predisposition to heart disease - never mind diet, lack of exercise and smoking!
That's interesting. However I think he was around after the introduction of agriculture and our switch to eating grains, which in fact we are not evolved to manage well, glyphosates or not!
nationalgeographic.com/scie...
Einkorn was first cultivated 7,500 years ago, Otzi was hunting 5,300 years ago - but in the mountains where other wheats were rare even 200 years ago as it doesn't grow well up here. That is part of the reason coeliac disease is common in Ireland and the Alps - wheat was introduced suddenly to the diet and overloaded the systmem.
Yes , that's true , a number of historical figures have been proved to have died young , not just because of an infection , an accident or poisoning as first thought but from chronic diseases that we suffer with now.
It was only eventually building up better immunity and resistance over years and eventually getting access to antiseptics , vaccines and antibiotics that has made it possible to live so long now.
People forget even just after World War One the population was dessimated by the Spanish flu and in some developing countries the mortality rate , even in countries not torn apart by war can be under 50.
If it took thousands of years to learn the lessons of good health , build up greater immunity to bacterias and create the right medicines to be where we are now , it will be generations before the new health dilemma of hypersensitivity to allergens and toxins has been solved , either medically or genetically.
I believe the human race in general, at least the "civilized" segment, has been living unhealthily for millennia. I guess in more recent centuries if you weren't taken out by a childhood illness, or if female by issues around childbirth, your chances of living nearly as long as we do now were pretty good. There's a reason we still talk about three score and ten being the expected lifespan, it's only recently more of us started living into our 80s and 90s! And there's no doubt that things which have helped us deal with the unintended consequences of civilization (living in close quarters in cities) such as clean water, proper waste disposal, vaccination, have extended our lives effectively. But we still don't eat the way we should - we don't even as a species remember what that is, and most of us don't have the chance to perform physical activities which keep us well.
And I believe studies are showing that as we change our way of life our gut microbiome, for better or worse, evolves along with us.
Agree ! Through anthropology, we've discovered, with outward evolution, very little has changed in our original gut. So it would seem the more "natural" we can eat, the better off we are regarding health. Why strip all the good stuff out of plants and then try to put it back in processed food with elements made in the laboratory, or given to us in pill form
Wonder how our bodies will cope with all the microplastics in the future??
We are evolving to become capable of living in outer space and on other planets....
Hi, at this same time, have you lowered your Pred dosage?
Totally agree re low carbs and reduction of inflammation - I have also had the experience of 'falling off the wagon' and/or being in situations where I have had to eat more carbs than I wanted and feeling much more unwell again - apart from weight going up and down. I also think eating BIG piles of 'organic' veg (ie free of sprays etc) if you can get it is fab for your health - loads of nutrients ... I have taken to munching LOTS of these and my appetite is now usually quite satisfied with no really distracting cravings - although some 'treats' sometimes will always exist in my lexicon anyway.
Interesting that you buy organic veg, obviously it’s better, but avoided by most of us due to the higher price. Is it not (nearly) as good to just wash it thoroughly when bought from the supermarket?
Made me think lots about chemicals sprayed on crops..... I walk the fields every day with my dog 🐕- they are spraying sometimes......
Totally agree with carbs causing inflammation - it’s just so hard to cut the blighters out!!
Most definitely connected to carbs but much more. I read Dr. Steven Gundry's book "The Plant Paradox" and for a few weeks now am feeling better about finding a diet that will decrease my pain and my pred...first test was giving up peanuts (my daily snack), most grains, nightshades (tomatoes potatoes etc.) and as much sugar as possible. within 3 days, I had relief. It had been difficult reducing from 10 down to 7, then I went on vacation and stopped watching the diet, now up to 9.5 again but as hard as it is, I am using some of the menus and shopping list from the book to get back on a program...it's the lectins (gluten is only one of hundreds) that is our problem...in meat, beans, most everything I was eating. Along with the chemicals in my body built up over 70+ years, I am feeding those bad bugs in my gut daily to create havoc and pain from inflammation...will keep you posted.
pat
Got to laugh - I looked up the Gundry diet and one detailed article was in MedicalNewsToday. Reliable you might think? This sentence appeared in it:
"If grains are consumed, the plan recommends products made from white flour instead of wheat."
Think they need a proof-reader - I assume they mean wholewheat but they just look a bit silly - white flour is almost always wheat flour ...
I observed this also. I have also experienced that if I eat salmon or chicken, I don't have any kind of soreness in my shoulders or hips, but...if I eat any kind of red meat (especially beef which I used to love) I wake up sore/stiff the next morning. I am trying to keep to a plant diet which is really hard for me.
If no red meat works - do it. It is better for you on pred as you need protein to maintain muscle mass.
Singr• in reply to
Interesting. I’ll be looking out for that.
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